Hide and Seek
by LauraCynthia
Summary: How did Randall catch Boo,and why did it take so long? Now you know.


And with that, Sully and Mike were gone.

Boo was sniffling in the corner. Randall turned around to look at her, and hissed. "Hello, kid." She shed her costume and ran down the hall.

"After her!" Waternoose yelled. "Make up for your mistakes, Randall!"

"No problem." But by this time, she was gone.

"You're not starting off very well." Randall slithered down the hallway after the little girl, pausing only to grab the costume.

The bathroom was very empty, which was a good thing. Boo peeked out from under the stall. Somehow she had managed to find a place where that bad lizard would never find her. After a minute, she opened the door and walked out. She looked at her face in the mirror and climbed on to the sink counter to get a better look, using the trash can like a stool. Was that candy? Sticking her finger in the stain, which smeared it all down her cheekbone, she licked her finger. Chocolate! Mmm. She repeated the taste. By now her face was all streaky. The tearstains didn't help, either. Drawing on the mirror, she wrote "I wuv kiTTy" with her finger. Sure, he would never see it, where she was, but she had seen writing on the stall walls, and what are babies but the best copycats?

Her nightgown was wet and wrinkled, partly due to the hot costume and partly because of the water left on the counter. Boo noticed a round box on the wall. There was a big button on it that said, "Push". She pushed it, and slippery goop came out. Rubbing it in between her hands, she giggled and clapped, spraying it all over the mirror. This stuff was fun to play with! She stuck her finger in her mouth. It tasted awful. She spat and sprayed and drooled in the sink, trying to get it out. Climbing off of the counter, she went into the same stall, and pulled and pulled on the tissue dispenser. It didn't come out, and then a lot of it came out, sending Boo flying out of the stall and landing on her butt. She picked up the end of the paper and wiped her mouth out with it, saying "Yuck." Getting up, she toddled over to the toilet and put the paper in. She reached up and flushed. The end of the entire roll in that stall stuck in the bowl like a fishhook, and the whole roll was unravelled as Boo watched. She clapped her hands again and giggled louder. The lights flashed off and on, as they were wont to do. Flushing again and again, she depleted the second roll. Giggling several times, she heard her voice echo off the walls. Covering her mouth, she stifled further laughs.

Though her little Boo brain had enough sense to silence herself, it didn't think that another noise besides her voice could set off the alarm bells in Mr. Lizard's. She went on to the next stall and repeated the game. What fun! But all in muteness was it accomplished.

Randall followed his instincts, pure and simple. Although Waternoose probably would have called him foolish because of it, he remained that way. It was largely how he had gotten so close to Sully in the scare numbers. Instinct. Always guessing. And because he was rarely wrong, he never had a reason to change his ways. It was the way of the victor. Also the way of the hunter, which was what he was.

He ogled the cheap "costume" Boo had been wearing. Likely handmade. Of course, he said a thank you under his breath to Sully, because he didn't exactly relish touching the kid with his bare hands. It was comparable to testing the toxicity of a mushroom/toadstool by tasting it, in human terms. He certainly hoped that Mike and Sully wouldn't figure out how to come back. Mr. Pain-in-the-butt would no doubt tip them off, though, although hopefully after he'd taken care of the kid. Maybe he'd poison 'em to death with yellow snow. That would be sweet.

The girl was somewhere near here, he could sense it. He snapped his head up. The locker rooms weren't far off. She'd been in there before, never mind what he hadn't found.

He searched the men's toilets first. Maybe she had to pee again. Bless her teeny weak bladder if she did!

Nothing. Maybe this was one of those rare times.

Quickly slithering out of the bathroom, he turned down the hallway, still wondering where she could be. Then, his eyes caught something out of their corners. Nahhhhh........she ain't _that _smart.

But maybe......

Just maybe......

Boo had emptied the whole bathroom of paper by now. She ran up and down the room, clapping her hands. "Hee hee hee, Alouette, and a bowl of peas............me me, little birdy..........." She ran to the door. "Alouette, lemon me pet........" and pushed against the door. She screeched. "Eeeek!"

"There you are!"

Instinct 1, Boo 0.

Thank goodness the women's washroom was unoccupied, Randall thought.


End file.
